1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to location based services and more particularly to geolocation for location based services.
2. Description of the Related Art
Geolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an object, such as a radar, mobile phone or an Internet-connected computer terminal. In the context of mobile computing, geolocation refers to the determination of a geographic location of a computing device. The result of geolocation oftentimes is a set of geographical coordinates, but also can include a translated form of geographical coordinates such as the name of a location, an address of a location, or a location in reference to one or more landmarks.
Global positioning technology such as the global positioning system (GPS) in many instances can provide the raw coordinate data necessary to produce a resultant geographical location. However, other methodologies of geolocation can include radio frequency (RF) location such as time difference of arrival (TDOA), direction finding along a bearing, and computer protocol location in which a geographic location is associated with an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, an radio frequency identifier (RFID), hardware embedded article/production number, an embedded software number, an invoice, a Wi-Fi positioning system, or even user supplied location information.
Modern mobile devices may support one or more methodologies of geolocation—especially GPS. Yet, some mobile devices are resource constrained and do not include a GPS receiver limiting those devices to the more granular technique of computer protocol location. Even then, some mobile devices are so resource constrained as to not afford the requisite firmware to perform computer protocol location. Or, as is the case in many circumstances, computer protocol location may not be enabled by the end user, either knowingly, or more commonly unknowingly. In the latter circumstance, the advantage of geolocation and the use thereof in location based services cannot be realized.